Dealing with Rejection Part 1: Handling Others’ Rejecting Behavior
I've received multiple requests to discuss a difficult dating topic - "dealing with rejection". This is a topic near and dear to my heart as well. The misconceptions, bad behavior, and hard feelings surrounding rejection can sometimes create deep wounds. I've seen too many good men and women suffer needlessly because of it. As a result, "rejection" is an important topic for successful and respectful dating and relating. It also has two sides:
1. Managing the rejecting behavior of others, and Declining a request from others.
2. Declining a request from others.
I will address "managing" in this article and speak to "declining" in Part 2. For now, I hope to reverse some of the misconceptions surrounding "rejection", and help individuals avoid the negative emotional experiences that often accompany it. Read on...and hopefully you will see and feel better.
(If you want skip the explanation and jump directly to the "take home points" go to Breaking Down Rejection Distortions and Feeling Better below).